Sanding out burn marks on maple

[Ronak Shah]

I was cutting thin pieces of maple in order to make slats for a crib last night, and wound up with a lot of burn marks on the wood.

The slats are 1" x .5" x 25", and I'm wondering now how I should sand them down. I've got 48 of 'em, so it's going to take time. All I have at home is a MegaMouse from B&D, so I'm expecting it to take a while. Any suggestions on what might speed stuff up?

I'll be using Bosch 60 grit paper, elbow grease and patience otherwise.

Ronak

[LarryG]

No thickness planer, I take it? One of the main uses mine gets is cleaning up burn marks. Ditto with the jointer. I cut everything a little oversize, then joint/plane 'em to burn-free perfection.

[newbie2wood]

If all you have is a MegaMoouse, your options are limited. Use 60 or 80 grit sandpapers and apply lots of elbow grease. The only other thing that I could think of is to sand [u]most</u> of the burn marks off, apply a good primer, and paint over them.

Next time, before you cut all 48 pieces, check your tablesaw for alignment and your feed rate.
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COLORADO MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

[Copper]

You could clamp them all (or some) together with the burn marked side facing up and then use the sander. That would help prevent rounding over of the corners and all would be sanded to the same thickness.

[germdoc]

I agree with checking the rip fence alignment, cleaning the blade, sharpening if needed, etc. Are you cutting them with the slat to the right of the blade? You may be binding between the blade and rip fence, which might be worse for a narrow piece than a wider piece. I rarely see any burning if the narrow piece is to the left of the blade.

For getting rid of burn marks, I suggest a card scraper and/or a well-tuned block plane, set to take very thin shavings. Either will work better and faster than sanding and produce a nicer finish. I use a simple card scraper extensively for just this purpose--best couple of dollars you'll every spend.

[jl]

I second "the card scraper". Much faster than sanding. No dust! Good finish.

[monte]

Another vote for the card scraper.

[ejs1097]

OK, I give up, what's a card scrapper?

[LarryG]

A card scraper is a rectangular (usually) piece of light steel with a cutting edge formed on all four (usually) sides. One of the simplest and most elegant tools in the shop, although some find the process of sharpening them difficult.

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?familyid=259

Click on the links on that page for some info on how a card scraper is used.

There are also scrapers with curved edges, useful for moldings and such.

[germdoc]

It's really not hard to burnish the edge. Just put the card scraper in a vice and file it with a smoothing file flat across the top edge, then run a hard steel rod (a burnisher, though in a pinch a smooth drill bit or screwdriver shaft will do) along the top at 0 degrees, then 5 degrees, then 10 degrees, then 15 degrees (in relation to the top flat edge). That will produce a rolled edge that will "catch" the wood surface and lift off fine shavings.

If you're still confused, Lee Valley makes a filing and burnishing jig that makes the whole process automatic.

[LCHIEN]

Maple is real easy to burn.
The secrets (after aligning the saw to the best of your ability):
1 Adequate feed speed - too slow = burn marks.
2 Constant feed speed.

To achieve 1 sometimes you need to rip to slightly oversize (by 1/32" or 1/16th") and then make a cleanup pass which because so little material is taken off you can feed the workpiece faster.

To achieve 2 means you can't stop feeding to change hand positions or pick up a push stick or change from top support to bottom support. You have to think your cut through so you can hand-overhand feed the wood continuously. That means - infeed and outfeed support. Long rip fence, as short a workpiece as possible, and placing your push stick close at hand, and carefully planning your whole move through. Pay slose attention because in your effort to provide a smooth continuous feed motion you will be temped to push your hand right into the blade when you should have picked up the push stick!

Failing that a thickness planer can be your friend.

I guess these don't help much in the current situation but can help next time before you cut 48 pieces.

[Ronak Shah]

Hi everyone, thanks for the help. I'm going to head over to Woodcraft and pick up a nice scraper - what a nifty little tool. We'll see how well I do with it. Maybe I'll get some before/after pics up :-)

And thanks for the help on proper feed technique. When I was consistent with the feed rate I did do a better job of it all. Also, my results on thicker pieces have been substantially better.

[Pappy]

This is one of them times that a drum sander is nice to heve!

[Tom Miller]

quote:Originally posted by Pappy

This is one of them times that a drum sander is nice to heve!

AHHH, someone finally said it! (I've been biting my tongue, since I figured the OP probably wasn't asking for the $500 solution. [:0]) I just used my 10/20 to sand the 26 slats for a bed I'm making, and what a pleasure it was! I was putting 3 to 4 2" wide slats at a time, limited only by my ability to juggle.

But, yeah, try the $5 card scraper first. [)]

Regards,
Tom

[jdschulteis]

I just read a tip that says try brushing on mineral spirits and let it sit for a minute before sanding off burn marks. It's probably worth a try.